Old Family Problems
by Dew That Is Blue
Summary: When Ridge receives a letter from his father, he breaks down. Xephos is the only one there to comfort him. Ridgephos. T because mentions of blood and abuse.


"No. No, no, no, no, no. This can't be happening. He can't be coming here!" I muttered frantically, pacing around one of the upper floors of my mansion.

I paused in my pacing and gripped my auburn hair, the crumpled letter still held firmly in my hand. I didn't care if I messed up my hair, this was so much more important at the moment.

I quickly smoothed out the note and held it in both hands and read it over again, just to be sure I hadn't read it wrong. I knew I hadn't, but it was the thought that counts.

 ** _Ridgedog,_**

 ** _It's been many years since I've seen you last, too many years in fact. To this day, I still don't understand why you left, we used to have so much fun together, even after your mother passed away, I thought we were close._**

 ** _It's taken me all this time to track you down, and I'm writing to inform you, that I will be visiting the Monday of next week. If my timing is correct, then you should receive this by the Friday before._**

 ** _I look forward to seeing you again, son. I expect you will have your servants prepare something nice for us._**

 ** _Sincerely,_**

 ** _Your Father_**

I growled, my hands balling into tight fists. I felt sparks of angry energy surround me, golden flashes appearing around the room. I picked up one of the many decorative vases off a table and chuckled it forcefully across the room. It hit the wall and shattered into pieces so small they were like dust.

In my fit of rage, I hadn't noticed that someone had entered through the front door, which I had neglected to lock. I didn't notice them enter the room nor gasp in fright at what they saw before them.

And finally, I broke. My body fell to the ground just below where I had been hovering. The energy caused by my anger fizzled out a disappeared. I started to cry. It was so weird, to have emotions like this again. I hadn't cried for decades. Yet here I was, collapsed in a pathetic heap on the floor. I put a hand over my wet face, feeling it grow warmer as I continued to cry.

I jumped when I suddenly felt someone sit beside me, placing a hesitant hand on my shoulder. I knew who it was, even before he spoke.

"Ridge? You okay?" He asked, his voice showing his concern. I sniffed and nodded my head, wiping my eyes with the sleeve of my coat. I glanced at him, seeing him look at me as if to say, 'Really?'.

I sighed, giving in and shaking my head. I looked down at the ground, then at my fist, slowly uncurling it to reveal a slight singed piece of paper scrunched into a ball. I moved my hand out to show the spaceman, offering it for him to take.

Xephos frowned, and took the letter hesitantly. Sparing a confused glance before he carefully un-crumpled it and read. Once he had finished, he only looked more confused. Handing the note back to me, which instantly turned to ash in my hand, making the spaceman flinch.

"Ridge, I don't understand, what's wrong with your father visiting tomorrow? You've had since Friday to prepare..."

I shook my head. "No, I only got it a few hours ago. I- I can't have him here... I worked so hard to get away..."

"Ridge... why did you want to get away? Was it because your mother died...?"

"MY MOTHER WAS MURDERED!" I shouted, causing Xephos to jump back in fright. "That monster killed her! And he almost killed me!"

With every word I spoke to the spaceman, the more I felt my wall crumble. The spaceman wrapped his arm around my shoulders comfortingly.

"Do... do you want to talk about it?" Xephos asked me slowly and cautiously. I shook my head, and he nodded in understanding.

"But... I can show you..." I said after a few minutes of silence. He looked at me, his face asking if I was sure. I gave him a look in return and he nodded his head.

I raised my hand, watching it shake uncontrollably. Xephos reached out and grabbed my hand to steady it. I took in a shaky breath and forced a memory into my mind. My hand began to glow a faint gold and my eyes lit up equally. A projection appeared before the both of us, outlined in gold fuzz. The images were slightly blurred in some places because of the nature of the memory, but you could still make out faces and what was happening.

 _A tall and regal looking man in a black and gold suit, with a thick and neatly trimmed beard bore down upon a smaller figure. He appeared to be shouting at the small boy, but no sound came from the projection. Suddenly, a bottle appeared in the man's hand, seemingly from nowhere and it was smashed across the boy's face, knocking him to the ground, blood trickling down his face and neck, tiny shards of glass glinted in the golden light._

 _Another figure appeared and stood between the man and the child. She wore a simple blue dress, her long auburn hair set in an ornate bun, slightly askew atop her head. The man and woman began screaming at each other, with the boy cowering in fear behind his mother._

 _The man seemed to have had enough and grabbed the young looking woman by her throat. She clawed at his hand as she was lift from the ground. In a final effort, she threw a fist towards his face. He dropped her and rubbed his jaw, glaring at her, while she rubbed her neck and coughed._

 _The man glared at the woman, but she seemed to ignore it, turning to her son and crouching in front of him, speaking to him, trying to reassure him. And then, the last thing that was shown of the memory was the man approach the woman from behind, a flawless diamond blade in hand and raised high._

Xephos gave an unintentional shout for the woman to watch out, but he could do nothing for it had already happened.

 _The blade pierced her back and narrowly missed the boy's lung, hitting just under his collarbone. The sword impaled them both into the wall. The woman choked and cough up blood, managing a small smile for her son, who was blacking out from the blood loss. That smile was the last thing she did before her body fell limp on the sword._

I gasped and the projection vanished. Fresh tears sprung from my eyes, faster than before. I fell into the arms of the spaceman beside me. I lacked the energy to care anymore. Xephos wrapped his arms around me in a loving embrace. He pressed his face into my hair and whispered reassuring words to me.

He was still in shock, I could tell. The powerful, emotionless, arrogant and smug Demi-God he had known seemed to have never existed. The man in his arms was once again the scared little boy on the night of his mother's murder, no longer was he the fearless Demi-God everyone knew.

 _ **A/N:**_ **Phew, that thing took forever. I hoped you liked it, this was based off a prompt given to me by AvatheBulldog on Wattpad.**

 **Thanks for reading, really hope I did it justice. Feel free to comment what you thought, it means heaps when people do. :)**

 **See ya' later!**


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